When designing a computer system that is intended for use on a missile, factors such as the size and the weight of the system as well as power consumption and the position the computer will occupy in the overall missile present unique challenges. A particularly vexing problem arises when the computer must be placed in front of a warhead that uses shaped-charge effects for its kill mechanism. In these missiles, a xe2x80x9cfree spacexe2x80x9d must be provided in front of the warhead to allow room for the formation of the xe2x80x9cjetxe2x80x9d that the warhead creates at detonation.
Other problems, some of which are not unique to computers in missilery, are the increased rate at which processors are required to communicate, either with themselves, memory or other devices, as new processors become faster and more processors are included in a single system. At increased communication rates, cross-talk between the individual data channels becomes more severe and more difficult to compensate for. Therefore, a data bus design is desired that accommodates the increased data transfer speed, requirement for ruggedness and economy of cost as well as a means to inject and retrieve signals easily while providing room for the formation of the jet created by the warhead of a missile.
Parallel data busses are embedded in multiple parallel grooves that are inscribed onto the exterior surface of a rectangular substrate or a cylindrical substrate that has a cylindrical hole running through the center thereof. In the case of the cylindrical substrate, the center hole provides a means for allowing the jet formation from shaped charged warheads to occur unencumbered while embedding the data busses into the body of the cylinder provides a degree of ruggedness. These grooves may contain a suitable polymeric optical medium such as plexiglass or lexan or left entirely vacant to be filled with air. Optical transceivers placed to be orthogonal to the data busses and reflective conical structures positioned within the busses expedite the injection and retrieval of optical signals travelling through the data busses.